The Science Behind The Movement & Mindset Coaching Programme

You don’t know how happy it makes me that you clicked into this page. I’m hoping this means that you, like me, are tired of the poorly researched quick fixes and hacks so often promoted by the fitness industry. This section of my website isn’t pretty (or concise!), but it’s important to me that my clients know how much value I put on reliable research. I hope this shines through in what you’re about to read.

Quick Fixes & Hacks

If the hours I spent in university devouring scientific papers taught me one thing, it’s how to identify bullsh*t research. I didn’t realise at the time, but this skill was going to save me quite a bit of money in the years that followed.

The explosion of the consumer healthcare market (the dietary supplement market alone grew over 42% in five years) has resulted in the availability of many products that make bold health claims despite relying on poor research studies with small sample sizes, lack of control groups, biased methodologies, and/or non-replicable results.

Social media has exacerbated the issue, bombarding us with viral health ‘hack’ videos and the promotion of poorly researched brands by paid influencers. It’s easy to see why consumers are so often misled by marketing that capitalises on trendy health fads rather than solid, evidence-based research.

The Mundanity of The Movement & Mindset Coaching Programme

The good news? The creation of this programme has been informed by reliable research studies & meta-analyses, making use of modalities that are proven to drive long-term health & happiness. The bad news? You may find these modalities to be somewhat mundane in nature. You see, they are not the world’s best kept secrets, quick fixes or the latest health hacks.

After years of studying many aspects of the health & wellness world, as well as working closely with life-coaching, health-coaching and personal training clients, I can confidently say that there is absolutely no hack out there that can drive higher quality and longer lasting results for health & happiness than regular physical and mental fitness activities. 

So if we all know the power of physical and mental fitness, why do so many people struggle to optimise their health & happiness? This question has been heavily researched over the years, with the vast majority of studies coming to the same conclusion - ‘individuals lack the necessary strategies and support to make lasting changes’. This is where The Movement & Mindset Coaching Programme steps in, providing you with the strategy and support to create habits out of the activities proven to work - physical and mental fitness.

  • The healthiest, happiest and highest performing people exercise regularly. The research clearly shows that not only does regular physical activity improve physical health markers, but it also has a profound impact on other areas of our lives, from career to finances, relationships, environment, and of course, overall happiness. The research speaks for itself.

    • Participants with high and moderate activity levels had significantly higher life satisfaction and happiness (An, 2020)

    • Individuals who exercised experienced 43.2% fewer days of poor mental health compared to those who did not (Chekroud, 2018)

    • >150 minutes/week of exercise was associated with a 19%–27% decreased risk of future depression (Wanjau, 2023)

    • Productivity in all job groups increased with improved muscle strength and decreased body mass index (Sjøgaard, 2016)

    • Physical exercise is significantly positively correlated with social-emotional competency and social adaptability, i.e. the ability to express empathy for the feelings of others, establish and maintain positive relationships with peers, and achieve a harmonious state with society (Liu, 2023)

    • Participants in the group with regular exercise behaviour increased their income by 3.79% compared with those not exercising regularly. In addition, for the group with no regular exercise behaviour, regular exercise increased their income by 13.36% compared with those not exercising regularly (Xiao, 2022)

    • Regular exercise leads to reduced risk of cardiovascular disease mortality, incident hypertension, incident site-specific cancers, incident type-2 diabetes, and falls. It also leads to improved mental health, cognitive health, sleep and measures of body fat (World Health Organisation, 2024)

  • Research shows that mentally fit individuals are often the healthiest and happiest because they possess the emotional resilience and cognitive clarity necessary to navigate life’s challenges effectively. They are better equipped to manage stress, cultivate positive relationships, and maintain a balanced perspective, which significantly contributes to their overall well-being.

    • Mindfulness brings about increased subjective well-being, reduced psychological symptoms and emotional reactivity, and improved behavioural regulation (Keng, 2011)

    • Higher levels of gratitude increase life satisfaction, which in turn increases gratitude, leading to a positive spiral (Unanue, 2019)

    • Trait mindfulness is directly positively related to relationship satisfaction (Kappen, 2018) 

    • Gratitude, alone, explained 8% of job satisfaction (Ataíde, 2023)

    • Individuals that adopted gratitude list interventions showed a significant improvement in perceived stress and depression (Komase, 2021)

Positive Feedback Loop

The beauty of integrating physical and mental fitness is that, together, they create a positive feedback loop. In other words, when one improves, it helps the other to improve too, creating a synergistic cycle of continuous growth.

  • Engaging in regular physical exercise is linked to greater mental clarity and cognitive function. It also releases endorphins and other neurotransmitters which elevate mood and reduce feelings of stress, anxiety and depression. 

  • These reactions to physical activity make individuals more motivated to prioritize their mental health. The discipline and routine developed through regular workouts foster a mindset focused on personal growth, making individuals more likely to adopt practices like mindfulness, meditation, or goal setting that further enhance mental fitness.

  • This enhanced mental fitness fosters improved focus, motivation, and resilience, making it easier to maintain regular exercise and healthier habits. It also makes individuals more likely to actively identify and appreciate the positive impact that regular exercise has on multiple areas of their lives, both in the short and long term. This further motivates them to continue prioritising their physical fitness. 

Harnessing Short-term Gratification

Awareness of this positive feedback loop helped me to understand why the healthiest, happiest and highest performing people are capable of creating a habit out of regular exercise, when so many others are not. You see, even though most humans understand the long-term health benefits of regular physical activity, these benefits are often not enough to motivate people to stick with it. 

There are evolutionary reasons for this. Throughout most of human history, survival depended on quick reactions to immediate dangers and unpredictable resources, like food or shelter. This shaped human instincts to prioritise short-term needs, making immediate rewards feel more significant than future benefits. In other words, we can blame our ancestors for why we feel so much more compelled to sit on the couch and eat chocolate than to exercise in pursuit of long-term health benefits. This also explains the rise in the consumer healthcare product market, given humans are constantly searching for the silver bullet to health & happiness.

Knowing that humans naturally lean towards short-term gratification, I realised that the people who are capable of sticking to regular physical activity are those who have the mental skills to appreciate not just the long-term, but the short-term benefits of exercise. They are mentally fit. We all experience short-term benefits of physical activity, but most of us aren’t even aware that we’re experiencing them. For example, we may not appreciate that:

  • The reason we’re suddenly in a far better mood is because we just exercised. 

  • The reason we were able to get so much more done in our work day was because we exercised that morning or the night before. 

  • The reason we were able to remain so level-headed during a disagreement with a loved one is because we exercised earlier that day. 

  • The reason we had a great night’s sleep is because we exercised the day before. 

  • The reason we had the confidence to go for a promotion at work on Monday morning is because we completed a physical challenge over the weekend that subconsciously proved to us that we could do hard things.

This is yet another reason why The Movement & Mindset Programme prioritises regular reflection and introspection. These activities cultivate a deeper understanding of and appreciation for regular exercise, which increases motivation and the likelihood of maintaining physical activity as a habit.

Leveraging Red Car Syndrome

The Movement & Mindset Coaching Programme combines many scientifically backed methods of habit-setting, one of these being the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon (or Red Car Syndrome).

This is a cognitive bias that occurs when you become aware of or interested in something and you suddenly start noticing it everywhere in your environment. For example, once you decide you want to buy a red car, you will notice a lot more red cars on the road. The same can be said for the benefits of exercise.

Once we become aware of the short-term (and long-term) effects of exercise, they appear to multiply. This cognitive bias results in a positive feedback loop which encourages us to stick with the exercise habit.

References

  • An HY, Chen W, Wang CW, Yang HF, Huang WT, Fan SY. The Relationships between Physical Activity and Life Satisfaction and Happiness among Young, Middle-Aged, and Older Adults. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Jul 4;17(13):4817. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17134817. PMID: 32635457; PMCID: PMC7369812.

  • Ataíde I, Araújo P, Araújo AM, Fernandes R, Martins E, Mendes F. Grateful Workers, Satisfied Workers? A Portuguese Study about Organizational Happiness during COVID-19 Quarantine. Behav Sci (Basel). 2023 Jan 18;13(2):81. doi: 10.3390/bs13020081. PMID: 36829310; PMCID: PMC9952461.

  • Chekroud SR, Gueorguieva R, Zheutlin AB, Paulus M, Krumholz HM, Krystal JH, Chekroud AM. Association between physical exercise and mental health in 1·2 million individuals in the USA between 2011 and 2015: a cross-sectional study. Lancet Psychiatry. 2018 Sep;5(9):739-746. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(18)30227-X. Epub 2018 Aug 8. PMID: 30099000.

  • Kappen G, Karremans JC, Burk WJ, Buyukcan-Tetik A. On the Association Between Mindfulness and Romantic Relationship Satisfaction: the Role of Partner Acceptance. Mindfulness (N Y). 2018;9(5):1543-1556. doi: 10.1007/s12671-018-0902-7. Epub 2018 Mar 13. PMID: 30294389; PMCID: PMC6153889.

  • Keng SL, Smoski MJ, Robins CJ. Effects of mindfulness on psychological health: a review of empirical studies. Clin Psychol Rev. 2011 Aug;31(6):1041-56. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2011.04.006. Epub 2011 May 13. PMID: 21802619; PMCID: PMC3679190.

  • Komase Y, Watanabe K, Hori D, Nozawa K, Hidaka Y, Iida M, Imamura K, Kawakami N. Effects of gratitude intervention on mental health and well-being among workers: A systematic review. J Occup Health. 2021 Jan;63(1), doi: 10.1002/1348-9585.12290. PMID: 34762326; PMCID: PMC8582291.

  • Liu Y, Feng Q, Tong, Guo. Effect of physical exercise on social adaptability of college students: Chain intermediary effect of social-emotional competency and self-esteem. Frontiers in Psychology. 2023, vol 14.

  • Michie, S., van Stralen, M. M., & West, R. (2011). The behaviour change wheel: A new method for characterising and designing behaviour change interventions. Implementation Science, 6, 42. Link to study.

  • Sjøgaard G, Christensen JR, Justesen JB, Murray M, Dalager T, Fredslund GH, Søgaard K. Exercise is more than medicine: The working age population's well-being and productivity. J Sport Health Sci. 2016 Jun;5(2):159-165. doi: 10.1016/j.jshs.2016.04.004. Epub 2016 Apr 7. PMID: 30356522; PMCID: PMC6188718.

  • Statistica: Size of the worldwide market for dietary supplements from 2018 to 2028.

  • Unanue W, Gomez Mella ME, Cortez DA, Bravo D, Araya-Véliz C, Unanue J, Van Den Broeck A. The Reciprocal Relationship Between Gratitude and Life Satisfaction: Evidence From Two Longitudinal Field Studies. Front Psychol. 2019 Nov 8;10:2480. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02480. PMID: 31780992; PMCID: PMC6857001.

  • Wanjau MN, Möller H, Haigh F, Milat A, Hayek R, Lucas P, Veerman JL. Physical Activity and Depression and Anxiety Disorders: A Systematic Review of Reviews and Assessment of Causality. AJPM Focus. 2023 Feb 4;2(2):100074. doi: 10.1016/j.focus.2023.100074. PMID: 37790636; PMCID: PMC10546525.

  • World Health Organization "Physical Activity: Key Facts", June 2024, retrieved from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity.

  • Xiao X, Yu Y, He Q, Xu D, Qi Y, Ma L, Deng X. Does Regular Physical Activity Improve Personal Income? Empirical Evidence from China. Nutrients. 2022 Aug 26;14(17):3522. doi: 10.3390/nu14173522. PMID: 36079780; PMCID: PMC9460796.